Although the authorship of this picture was once questioned, cleaning and reexamination have securely demonstrated that it is one of a group of landscapes that Gauguin painted during his first Tahitian sojourn, showing small figures and a hut amid tropical greenery. There are drawings related to the couple and the horse in this picture, attesting to the artist’s eye for local detail. This was the first painting by Gauguin to enter the Metropolitan’s collection, by donation in 1939.

Harry B. Wehle. "A Landscape by Paul Gauguin." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 35 (March 1940), pp. 56–57, ill., ascribes it to Gauguin, noting that it is the first painting by him to enter the museum's collection; reads the date as "91".

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, pp. 174–75, ill.

Ronald Pickvance. The Drawings of Gauguin. London, 1970, p. 34, notes that on the verso of "Head of a Tahitian Man" (Art Institute of Chicago) is a sketch of two standing figures used for this painting; dates the drawing about 1892.

Pierre Leprohon. Paul Gauguin. Paris, 1975, p. 330.

Richard S. Field Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Paul Gauguin: The Paintings of the First Voyage to Tahiti. New York, 1977, pp. 163–64, 325, 329–30, no. 47, reads the date as "92" and tentatively dates it to October or November of that year, a period of "really depressed output".

Vivian Endicott Barnett. The Guggenheim Museum: Justin K. Thannhauser Collection. New York, 1978, p. 59, observes that it is related in subject and date to Gauguin's "Haere Mai" of 1891 in the Guggenheim.

Susan Alyson Stein in Colta Ives and Susan Alyson Stein. The Lure of the Exotic: Gauguin in New York Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, p. 171.

Charlotte Hale in Colta Ives and Susan Alyson Stein. The Lure of the Exotic: Gauguin in New York Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, pp. 175, 190–94, 225, 232 nn. 56, 59, 60, p. 233, n. 70, no. 119, figs. 81 (color), 82 (x-radiograph), based on extensive technical analysis and stylistic evidence, including three related drawings, proposes that this picture is by Gauguin; notes that a recent cleaning reveals that the signature is original and the inscribed date is "92".

Susan Alyson Stein inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 143, 215, no. 105, ill. (color and black and white), notes that "recent cleaning and reexamination of this painting have put to rest any question of its authenticity".